How Indiana Fever coach Christie Sides is helping Caitlin Clark break bad habits

INDIANAPOLIS — Indiana Fever rookie Caitlin Clark knew the transition from college to the WNBA wasn’t going to be easy. The pace was going to be faster, there was going to be more physicality, and she was going to be playing against the best women’s basketball players in the world.

In the Fever’s first two regular-season games, Clark found herself falling back into her college habits. She wasn’t aggressive enough, making decisions quick enough, and that turned into defenses easily reading the Fever offense.

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Because of that, Clark turned the ball over 10 times in her WNBA debut — some were from her teammates not yet being able to anticipate her passes, but some also came from dribbling off her foot or the Sun anticipating her pass.

“It’s just almost playing with an aggressive mindset,” Clark said Monday. “I think when I was playing Connecticut and New York for the first time, I think I was just waiting too much for stuff to happen, rather than making it happen, whether it was my reads, whether it was waiting for our posts to come set ball screens. Like, that just lets the defense get set and do what they want to do.”

It was something Indiana coach Christie Sides noticed about Clark’s game, too. She was standing around on offense too much, and that wasn’t working in the scheme Sides wanted to play.

Clark has more talent around her now — including 2023 No. 1 pick Aliyah Boston, 2022 No. 2 pick NaLyssa Smith, 2023 WNBA All-Star Kelsey Mitchell and Katie Lou Samuelson in the starting lineup. Those players can facilitate an offense in a different way than her teammates at Iowa.

“I gave her a rule the other day that she’s got 0.5 seconds to make a decision,” Sides said earlier this month. “When she gets off the ball, and she hits somebody in the high post, she has a habit of hanging out and dancing. That’s what she’s done, that’s those habits we gotta break. She’s got players around her now that she can get out, she can go screen, and the ball’s going to get back to her. That’s what she hasn’t had in the past, so that’s what we’ve been trying to show her and explain to her.”

Sides is also hoping Clark will diversify her slot selection as she gets more reps in the WNBA. Clark only tends to take 3-pointers and quick layups or close jumpers, making it easier for defenses to read when she’s going to shoot.

Those are the only shots she needed to take in college — opposing defenses could seemingly never figure out how to defend her. Now, opposing defenses know Clark’s tendencies. They spent months studying her during her final college season and the WNBA offseason. So, Sides wants Clark to tap into the midrange game.

“I think she’s used to some shots that she’s taken in the last few years that are just those deep shots,” Sides said. “There’s times she comes off ball screens where she’s open in that long 2 area, and we’ve got to get her comfortable taking that long 2.”

At the end of the day, Clark said, playing basketball should be instinctual. The two-time National Player of the Year has been playing basketball for most of her life, and she was the No. 1 pick for a reason.

She needs to take those shots she’s not entirely comfortable in, because that’s the only way she can improve on it.

“Every movement just needs to happen a little bit faster,” Clark said. “The decision-making happens a little bit faster, and I also think, just don't overthink it. This is just basketball, you’ve played your whole life, and it's just kind of an instinct, it's not something you're really thinking about. It’s just let your instincts take over.”

Follow IndyStar Fever Insider Chloe Peterson on X at @chloepeterson67.

This article originally appeared on Indianapolis Star: How Christie Sides is helping Caitlin Clark break bad habits